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A
diver's dream, Sipadan's undersea life was discovered a mere
decade ago, and has become the centre of pilgrimage for many
of the world's most renowned undersea explorers.
Born
in Sarawak, Borneo, Michael Wong trained at the Royal London
Hospital, and now has a successful dental practice in London.
He took up SCUBA diving in 1982, and was soon accompanied
by a camera on every dive, with which to capture the fascinating
images of undersea life.
His
love for underwater photography has led him to dive many of
the world's most renowned reefs. However, it is to Sipadan,
off the coast of his native Borneo, that he returns, time
and time again.
His
stylish and unique marine photographs have won many awards
in National and International competitions. in covering the
Sipadan project over four years, Michael Wong logged over
1,200 underwater hours, photographing the island's marine
life in all seasons to produce the stunning images of Sipadan
contained in this, his first book.
The
260 + colour photographs reproduced in the book were taken
by Michael Wong using either Pentax LX SLR cameras in Hugyfot
underwater housings or, in strong currents, with Nikonos 11
and III amphibious cameras. Lenses ranged from 16 mm full-frame
fish- eye to 100 mm macro on Pentax cameras and 20 mm and
15 mm on Nikonos cameras. Illumination was provided by Sea
& Sea YS 200 strobe units. The film used was either Fuji
RF50 or Fuji Velvia.
Michael
Wong's colourful book starts with a Preface by The Right Honourable
Chief Minister of Sabah and a Forward by the Honourable Minister
of Tourism and Environmental Development of Sabah. Following
an Introduction there are four chapters - The Living Reef,
Kaleidoscope of Life, Fish in Abundance, and Turtle Odyssey.
The
bulk of the text is contained in the 15 pages of Introduction.
The rest of the book is devoted entirely to photographs with
appropriate legends.There are very many superb photographs
reproduced in Michael Wong's book, in fact every opening contains
one or more.
As
one might expect the Living Reef chapter covers the corals,
sponges and anemones with some additional photographs of sea-
squirts and marine worms.
The
Kaleidoscope of Life chapter includes photographs of starfish,
brittle-stars, feather-stars, shrimps, crabs, lobsters and
molluscs (including sea-slugs, squid and octopus).
The
Fish in Abundance chapter reveals shoals of barracudas, lacks,
anchovies, surgeon fish, fusiliers, goat fish, banner fish,
caranx, bat fish, humphead parrot fish, squirrel fish, fairy
basslets; and catfish as well as individual shots of sharks,
rays, puffers, lion fish, scorpion fish, leaf fish, blennies,
hawk fish, file fish, gobies, cleaner wrasse, sweetlips, squirrel
fish, groupers, parrot fish, crocodile fish, flashlight fish,
clown fish, moray eels and garden eels.
The
final chapter is devoted to photographs of Green and Hawksbill
Turtles and the remarkable caverns in which some individual
turtles have become sadly and permanently entrapped.
Many
photographers have compared Michael Wong's book with David
Doubilet's "Light in the Sea" and Christopher Newberts
'Within a Rainbowed Sea". Although similar in format,
all three books are, in my opinion, unique and reflect the
individual styles of three talented underwater photographers.
Michael
Wong's "Sipadan, Borneo's Underwater Paradise" will
appeal to all serious underwater photographers, those interested
in marine life and all who have dived or intend to dive in
Malaysia, in particular Sipadan |
